Cultural Fire & the Pink Nodding Orchid

Last year Jagun Alliance rangers skillfully applied cultural fire practices in Wurring (winter) on Bandjalang land. The cool burn created ideal conditions for the prolific germination of the Endangered Pink Nodding Orchid – which had been absent from this site prior to the application and custodianship of cultural fire. The roots of this ground orchid actually have a symbiotic relationship with fungi that require the right kind of fire to maintain the ideal soil conditions and allow enough light to penetrate the ground, which allows the flower to thrive. There are less than 20 populations of this species remaining in NSW!

The burn across the Korinderie Ridge Community and the Minyumai Indigenous Protected Area was a great example of ‘tenure blind' fire management and cultural burning where neighbours are able to apply small scale mosaic burns together across private property boundaries.

Now that we’ve transitioned into Ngoon (summer) and the Dirrawong (goannas) are active, the Boonow (Pink Bloodwood) are just starting to flower, and cones hang from mature Black Sheoak. These provide food for the Gehrr (Glossy Black Cockatoo). Goowun (wallabies) and Eastern Grey Kangaroos graze on the bright green regrowth of a range of native grasses. After the sunw goes down Wijoon (Gliders) and Forest Owls can be heard, using the large tree hollows on site that were protected in the cultural burn. Within a short walk from the site a chorus of frogs are singing and breeding, including the threatened Wallum froglet.

Jagun Alliance Rangers worked in collaboration with Minyumai IPA Rangers and the Korinderie Ridge community to apply this burn. We’lll continue to work together with them and other property owners in the region to do post-burn monitoring work through 2024. This will help to record the positive impacts of cultural burning on Country and local ecosystems. Jagun Alliance Rangers will also support in monitoring critical habitat, such as that of the pink nodding orchid, to ensure the restoration and future survival of many threatened species.

*Bandjalang Language is taken from the Bandjalang seasonal calendar and the Minyumai Indigenous Protected Area website. Spelling and pronunciation may vary.

Cultural Fire at Dorrobbee Grass Reserve

Photos by Olivia Katz

Jagun Alliance was joined by Ngulingah Local Land Council rangers, local Bundjalung elders, representatives from Conservation Futures and Bush Heritage Australia and many more to conduct a cultural burn on the Dorrobee Grass Reserve.

This site has a history of fire regimes and is a significant part of the grassy pathway that runs inland from the coast near Broken Head. It's easy to see why it's such a significant place, with views extending north to the Tweed Caldera, west towards the Richmond Range, south to Swan Bay and eastwards to the ocean. All present were treated to a beautiful winter's day and the views to match. It's easy to see why the Old People burned this Country.

Conditions were determined to be suitable for a burn and rangers from both Ngulingah Land Council and Jagun Alliance managed the burn as a form of regeneration of the native grasses and control of invasive weed species that inhabit the grassland. The implementation of cultural fire is necessary to ensure the maintenance and health of Kangaroo Grass (themeda triandra) in the long-term. It's also vitally important to continue culture and connection to Country.

It was great to have mob from far and wide – from Yaegl, Gumbaynggirr, Bundjalung and Gullibul Country and beyond – come for a yarn and a feed. Some stories and song were shared amongst those present.

Bugalbeh to all who came, yarned up and connected.

Cultural Fire returns to the Koonyum Range

Ngalii-ngaa wala-wala guuriilaa wuuyun-girr


Ngalii-ngaa nyaagii gaany ba-aarn nguubuugan

We share old ways into the new

We need these ways now and for our future

Restoring cultural fire back into landscapes where it has been excluded is crucial to help build back resilience into Country here in the Northern Rivers. Zero Emissions Byron came together with Wildsite Ecological Services and Jagun Alliance Aboriginal Corporation to run a workshop for local landholders and mob on the importance of cultural fire. The weather conditions on the day also allowed for a small demonstration burn and was thought to be the first time cultural fire was returned to the Koonyum Range in almost a century.

Attendees were welcomed to Country by Laryssa Smith on behalf of the Minjungbal-Bundjalung people. From here some informative discussion and conversation began around cultural fire from fire ecologist Dr Andy Baker and Indigenous fire custodian Oliver Costello. Jagun Alliance’s Cultural Advisor Marcus Ferguson then led a cultural walk to discuss the traditional grassy pathways that weave across Bundjalung Country and were used by the Old People to travel between important cultural areas. 

What is cultural fire?

Cultural fire is cool and controlled when applied to the right vegetation type, during the right season and under suitable weather conditions. Australian flora and fauna have evolved with fire and many species are dependent on it for regeneration, succession, habitat maintenance and food production. Dr Andy Baker, who has been a fire and vegetation ecologist in Byron Shire for 27 years, explains that “fire-dependent vegetation types in Byron Shire include Eucalypt, Brush Box and Paperbark forests and also heathlands.  When maintained with cultural fire these ecosystems provide important habitat for numerous threatened flora and fauna that depend on open canopy ecosystems to survive.”  

Executive Director of Jagun Alliance Oliver Costello echoes these thoughts and expands on the issue by noting that many in our community have a fear-based relationship with fire, particularly after the Black Summer fires of 2019/20.  “One of the intentions of Jagun Alliance is to help people reimagine fire as something that can be positive to help care for Country and support landholders to understand its significant cultural value.”

With support from the Ingrained Foundation, Zero Emissions Byron & Jagun Alliance hope to  promote a vital pathway to help restore and conserve biodiversity, renew Aboriginal cultural connection and practice, build resilience back into Country and reduce bushfire risk.

Larnook & the Boorabee songline

On Sunday we welcomed thirty local landholders, community members and mob to the Larnook Rural Fire Service shed for a day of conversation and connection around cultural fire and Indigenous land management. Larnook is situated in a culturally and ecologically interesting area. The boorabee (koala) songline follows the ridgeline and traditional grassy pathway of the MacKellar Range and reaches from Kyogle in the west all the way to Evans Head in the east. The Old People would follow that songline during certain times of year. At this time of the year it is Season of the Mullet where Bundjalung people would travel to the coast to gather to feast on the seasonal abundance and catch up with family.

Uncle AJ inspired us in his Welcome to Country about the large-scale impacts of colonisation on country and moved the audience with his positive vision for the future. This was followed by an introduction to the Connecting to Jagun project by Director Oli Costello. Throughout the day we also hosted some guest presentations from Dr Andy Baker at Southern Cross University and Max Watt from Goanna Bush Regeneration

We can tell its the season of the mullet by certain indicators in the landscape: the spectacular flowering of the broad leaved paperbark (Melaleuca quinquenervia) in coastal areas and the arrival of the Yellow-faced honey eater (Caligavis chrysops) and other nectar feeding birds from other areas to feast on the flowers. Up in the hills near Larnook its the flowering of the forest oak (Allocasuarina torulosa) that signals the change in this season. You find the forest oak up on the ridges and steep country in the open grassy forest that needs cultural fire to stay open and grassy. It’s also the favourite food tree for the threatened Glossy Black Cockatoo (Calyptorychus lathami) seen in the area.

The surrounding landscape holds a variety of vegetation including dry sclerophyll forest, wet sclerophyll forest and rainforest ecosystems. There are certain types of both wet & dry sclerophyll that have evolved to cultural burning over time to keep them open and thriving. Wet sclerohphyll country dominated by tallowwoods and she-oaks combined with a grassy understorey was frequently burned to keep the forest open and cultural pathways clear – if you exclude fire for too long, which has occurred during the process of colonisation, it can transform open forest in to a closed canopy forest with rainforest midstorey which blocks the sunlight and shades out the native grasses and diversity of the forest floor. Cultural burning and traditional grassy pathways kept the forest canopy open with sunlight to support the diversity of the grasses and native plants on the ground layer which are now threatened across the region from a combination of fire exclusion in some areas and severe bushfires in others.

At our Larnook workshop, Dr Andy Baker from Southern Cross University also touched on the ecological values of these fire tolerant systems. He reminded those present that due to fire regimes being disrupted we’re losing open forest Country from an absence of appropriate land management. Max Watt from Goanna Bush Regeneration added to this idea, noting that integrating bush regeneration in combination with cultural burning can achieve better outcomes for the landscape and build resilience back into Country.

Through conversation, connection and custodianship Jagun Alliance hopes to educate and assist landholders in returning good fire to their properties and regenerate landscapes that have suffered from a colonial legacy of neglect.